Four More Tea Estates in Bengal Close Due to Bonus Dispute

Due to disputes between the administration and the employees regarding the rate of bonuses, four more tea estates—three in Alipurduar and one in Jalpaiguri—closed on Monday.

With these closures, there are now eight gardens in the Dooars area that have closed in the last five days. On Sunday, two of the six previously closed gardens were reopened.

Before Durga Puja, the closures had rendered about 8,500 workers jobless.

Jaibirpara and Dalmore in the Madarihat-Birpara block and Dalshingpara in the Kalchini block are the Alipurdiar gardens that closed on Monday.

Sources claimed that although the administration of the estates in Dalsingpara and Jaibirpara sent out information about the work stoppage, they neglected the garden in Dalmore without providing any prior notice.

The management of Jaibirpara stated in its notice that on Saturday afternoon, some workers broke into the facility, threatened and physically dragged out tea-processing personnel.

"They even looted the sorting room and halted the production process, demanding a 16 percent bonus, even though it was decided in a bipartite meeting that they would receive an 11 percent bonus," the source claimed.

About 900 people lost their jobs when the management declared that work in the garden would be suspended.

A similar situation occurred at Dalmore, which employs about 600 people, when the workers wanted a bonus at a rate of fourteen percent, while the management insisted that nine percent had been agreed upon before.

"For the last three days, the workers have not shown up for work and have instead engaged in protests. It resulted in losses. Then, according to a source, the management left.

The management of Dalsingpara, which employs 800 people, announced an 8.33% bonus; nevertheless, the workers felt that the amount was insufficient and took the last three days off. The management gave notice on Sunday night, and all of the managerial staff members departed the garden.

Senior trade union officials have contacted the state labor department in response to these consecutive closures.

"We have asked department officials to move quickly to ensure that the gardens reopen and that employees receive bonuses ahead of Durga Puja. The chairman of the Trinamul Cha Sramik Union, Nakul Sonar, stated that this is a negative tendency that needs to stop.

On Monday evening, the 615-person Carron tea estate management in Jalpaiguri's Nagrakata neighborhood abandoned the property.

Workers protested at the garden earlier in the day, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., calling for more bonuses.

A female employee named Sumi Oraon stated, "The management wants to pay us 10% bonus, but we will not accept anything below 19%."

Carron is a member garden of the Indian Tea Planters' Association, whose chief adviser, Amitangshu Chakraborty, indicated that the incentive rate was decided upon after bipartite discussions in accordance with the garden's financial situation.

Chakraborty remarked, "It is regrettable that workers in Carron are not adhering to the agreement and demanding more bonus," adding that this would "complicate" matters.

Gatherings

In order to settle the bonus dispute for 87 gardens in the Darjeeling hills, the state labor department called a tripartite conference in Siliguri on Monday. For hill employees, the bonus rate has not yet been decided. Planters had already suggested a 9% bonus, but trade unions had turned it down. "There is still a meeting." When this article was filed on Monday night, a trade union leader stated that no decision had been made.

The state labor agency in Jalpaiguri arranged two tripartite meetings to help with the reopening of two closed gardens in the district: Sylee and Chamurchi. Tuesday is the day when the Sylee tea estate will reopen, as agreed upon at the initial meeting. The negotiations to break the deadlock in Chamurchi are still ongoing.